Chennai, 3 Feb

Popular music director SP Venkatesh, who rose to prominence with the film 'Rajavinte Makan' (1986), died at his residence here on Tuesday following cardiac arrest, a film industry source said. 

He was 70. The versatile South Indian music director was known for his collaboration with veteran actors like Mohanlal and Mammootty. He enthralled a multitude of fans with his soulful melodies and thunderous background scores.

He was credited as Sangeetharajan. Born on 5 March 1955, Venkatesh is the son of Mandolin player Pazhani. He started playing guitar in films with music director Vijay Bhaskar in 1971. He established himself as a versatile music director in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films.

He entered the Malayalam film industry as a music director in 1985 through the film 'Janakeeya Kodathi'.

Venkatesh won the Kerala State Film Award for best music director in 1993 for the films 'Paithrukam' and 'Janam'.

He gave several hit songs in films like 'Bhoomiyile Rajakkanmar', 'Vazhiyora Kazhchakal', 'Indrajalam', 'Nadodi', 'Manthrikam', 'Kilukkam', 'Minnaram', 'Sphadikam', and 'Johnny Walker'.